Monsters and Mages
by jahud334
Summary: After a pacifist ending, Monsters are are left in a world where they are increasingly marginalized. The seven descendants of the seven magicians who locked the monsters underground defy their ancestors to try and help monster kind thrive in a human-dominated society.
1. Chapter 1

_Note: This story is written in first-person_ _omnipresent. I know that this is a weird point of view, but it will be explained in a later chapter._

Hello, my name is Tessero. I am the first-year top student at the College for Gifted Mages and this is my diary. I am writing this in light of recent events because I am afraid that I will be silenced in the near future. If I disappear I hope that someone finds this and uses it as a record; with what is left of my reputation I hope that this can be used as viable evidence in both human and monster courts of law.

Entry #1: The New Kids Underground

One of most important things we learned at the College is that living things learn magic best through exploration and discovery. After so many years, there are only so many spell-books and grimoires you can read before you are encouraged to go outside of the campus and find hidden magic on your own. When I graduated from high school I already learned quite a bit of magic in my spare time, so I aced all of my courses and ended up first in my freshman class pretty quickly. By my second semester I was already exploring the world for lost and undiscovered magic with the other top students in each class. This was unusual for first-years, even the ones at the top of their class.

It's hard to imagine how excited the College was when the barrier to the Underground of Monsters was broken. This gave both students and staff the opportunity to explore magic that had been closed off to humans for centuries.

Although part of the magic from the underground was brought up by the monsters who lived there, a majority was left underground. This included an enormous generator that converted geothermal energy into magical electric energy, a hidden laboratory that contained records of research performed on monster souls, and some impressive magical recipes that included snails as the main ingredient. Our professors were particularly impressed by the laboratory work that resulted in discoveries the College had never known about. With some searching they discovered that there was a single scientist who performed the research: Royal Scientist Dr. Alphys. After contacting her above ground, she agreed to teach some courses in Applied Arcane Science at the College to help fund her growing anime and manga collection.

After discovering the generator that monsters collectively called 'the Core', the other students and I realized the underutilized potential it had. Before the barrier had opened the generator powered key facilities that surrounded it such as the laboratory and resort, but outside of the geothermal area monsters called 'Hotland', the generator provided minimal amounts of magical power. A couple months after the barrier opened, we completely renovated the underground using the Core to power a post-industrial network of student-run classrooms, lounges, dormitories, supermarkets, retailers, theatres, and libraries. This was the Underground Student Society, it was almost as large as the College itself, but we had it all to ourselves.

The top student in each class had a certain responsibility in running what we called the Underground Student Society, and we were collectively called the Council. Arcos, the 6th year valedictorian and the most senior of the top students, was the president of the Underground Society. He made sure every part of the USS was running properly, from the funding for maintaining the student facilities, to the maintenance of the Core, to the management of the underground library memberships; if something wasn't running properly down here, it was up to Arcos to set things in place, and this place was gigantic, so Arcos was always busy. As a farmer from a family who owned a ranch for seven generations, he had a heavy rural accent. He stood well over 6 feet tall and had a deep voice. He had blue eyes and long blonde hair that he put into a bun and wore his cowboy hat over. He usually wore plaid long-sleeve shirts which he always rolled up, jeans, a cow-skin belt, and either black work boots or cowboy boots. He was jovial, honest, and he had a lot of character; he was notorious for agriculture puns that he had "harvested" while working with his family on the ranch.

Aria, the 5th year top student ran the next most important thing, the treasury. We used most the treasury to pay for the maintenance of the USS facilities. Our biggest source of income was generated by student-run mini-courses for magic and magical practice. Both monsters and humans came down here to pay for these courses, but our most loyal and wealthy customers were a variety of bizarre, cat-like monsters who only called themselves 'Temmie'. Our courses were usually 200 to 300 gold, and they averaged five to seven classes, but the temmies payed 1000 gold for _each class_ insisting that we "needed the muns to do the cool leg stuff." It wasn't unusual for a quarter to a half of our student population in each course to contain Temmies. Aria was from a family of impoverished factory workers and I heard from older students, she had to cut back on food and clothing in order for her to afford going to the College for Gifted Mages. Things changed dramatically for her and her family when she became the treasurer of the USS. With the massive amounts of surplus income that the Society generated, Aria sent money to her family so that they could afford a better lifestyle than the cramped one that they had. She was also able to afford a healthier lifestyle for herself at the College. She was a moderately tall and sleek woman with golden eyes and brown hair that was usually tied into a tight bun. Once the Underground Society started running, she had ditched her tattered and stained second-hand t-shirts and sweat pants for expensive and sleek business suits.

Seeing that our primary source of income came from extra-curricular classes, the fourth-year top student, Pip, organized this section of the Society. Pip ran what was considered by most students the heart of the Underground Student Society. Aside from being an official ambassador to the temmies and Professor Alphys' favorite student (although Alphys nervously insisted she had no favorites), she also understood how to maintain the Core. Arcane science was Pip's specialty, and with some of the Core's blueprints and some help from her family of Engineers, she was able to maintain it. She was famous for trapping rival students inside of the Core by mechanically rearranging the layout while they passed through to get to another part of the underground. Pip was five feet tall, she had brown eyes and brown hair, and she wore circle-rimmed glasses which complimented her round face nicely. I once made the mistake of asking Pip whether Pip was her real name or a nickname that she was called because of her height, which had earned me silence and a burning look of hatred. The next day she trapped me in the Core for a couple minutes before I got bored. I used an extra-dimensionality spell to create a fold in three-dimensional space so that one of the Core's exits was in my location. I've learned that Pip had a kind and sweet personality on the surface, but she was a woman not to be meddled with.

The third and second year top students ran the Underground's retailer and residential units together. Their names were Oryn and Crake, and they were the third year and second year top students, respectively. They were two witty siblings from a close redheaded family of successful human soldiers, therefore combat magic was naturally their specialty. They both had the same high-and-tight hairstyles with green eyes and tall, scrawny body types. Despite being the younger brother, Crake was the taller of the two, which was a point of mild frustration for Oryn. They would make use of clever hijinks to keep things running with difficult individuals. For example, when a Froggit demanded absurdly low monthly rent at one of our apartment complexes, the brothers convinced it that the rent went into providing its ambient food supply and that lowering the rent would diminish it. They created an elaborate scheme when the Froggit refused to pay rent by using suction and invisibility magic to meticulously remove flies from around the Froggit's living space. Once the Froggit noticed a decrease of flies in its environment, it agreed to its original rent.

The most minor responsibility for running the Underground Society went to me, the first-year top student. It was my responsibility to maintain contact with the surface, and this was more of a requirement made by the College staff than something the students wanted to do. The College administration wanted to have contact with the students down here in order for the Society to be recognized as an official organization within the College. Although I liked talking to Professor Alphys about the most recent anime just as much as the next student, I didn't just want to sit around and wait to talk to various college staff all day. Thus, a couple weeks after the communication cables to the college were laid out, I built some receiver dishes and transmission towers and siphoned off power from the Core. This enabled a radio communication range that spread to several towns surrounding Mt. Ebott. I had to ask Pip for help, which she grudgingly gave me when I agreed to help her install traps higher dimensional traps inside of the Core so that "Mages like me won't slip through". Arcos completely agreed to the radio communication plan, saying that "it's proper to talk to them locals who are _rooted_ here 'round the surface". With radio communication established, I created my own pet project- Evening Under the Mountain- a radio show that started at 6:00 PM after classes ended and ran for two hours. During these two hours, I talked about all of the activities and changes that took place inside of the College for Gifted Mages and everything that was happening inside of the Underground Student Society. During this time, I would also take wireless calls from people in the nearby towns, and this was when I made the first contact that would change everything.

 _The seventh descendant will be revealed in a later chapter as well._


	2. Chapter 2

Entry #2: Evening Under the Mountain

"Hello ladies and gentlemen, monsters and humans. This is Tessero, and thank you for tuning into Evening Under the Mountain. Today we have a special guest, Muffet, the owner of one of the most prominent bakeries within the USS." _Na Na Na_ by My Chemical Romance played softly in the background as I spoke to Muffet about her business.

"I heard that you used to have abhorrently high prices for your baked goods, what made you lower them? Was it a lack of customers willing to buy from you?"

"No. When the barrier to the surface opened, I was one of the only monsters who stayed behind. Mind you, I go up every once in a while, to have fun, but I knew I would make more money for my friends if I stayed here in the underground because no one else was selling baked goods, coffee and tea when you College humans started showing up."

"So you took advantage of a monopoly?"

"Yes, and what a beautiful monopoly it was." Said Muffet, reminiscing. "But it worked for the humans down here. Didn't you love the food and drink?" Muffet asked innocently.

"Sure thing" I said insincerely. I would rather have bought microwavable instant coffee at the grocery store without paying ten gold for a small cup. The sad thing is, once the USS started supplying tea, coffee and baked goods at markets all over the underground, Muffet and her spiders bought out all of these goods in the markets as quickly as they could, reselling them at Muffets' ultra-high prices. I had to admit that spider was pretty brilliant because it was cheaper to buy the supermarket goods and resell them than make the goods from scratch underground.

"What ended your 'beautiful monopoly'?" I asked innocently.

"Those pesky brothers. Oryn and Crake bought all of our goods and resold them at cheaper prices. Everyone stopped coming to me and the other spiders."

Many of the students underground continued to complain about having to buy overpriced coffee and muffins when they stayed underground. The Council knew that the coffee alone was universally vital to academic life, so we set up a meeting to find a way to resolve the issue. The brothers of course came up with the brilliant yet simple idea- play Muffet at her own game. Aria had to sink nearly all of the surplus gold in the USS treasury to buy out all of Muffet's overpriced product. When the money was collected, Oryn, Crake, and over a hundred student volunteers went to the spider vendors to buy out the goods as quick as they could. Oryn and Crake resold them at a business they created on their own: Ginger Bros Café. Muffet didn't know that the whole Council was in on the act, and I think that it was better she focused her frustration on the brothers. They learned how to handle that kind of thing well anyways.

"That was surprising, wasn't it? I guess that's when you were forced to lower your prices."

"Yeah," Muffet sighed "I couldn't beat one gold for a regular Coffee."

"Well. I'm glad you kept your business down here anyways, and thank you for being on Evening Under the Mountain." When Muffet crawled out of the studio, some of her friends crawled over my face and body while following her. I didn't flinch, I had faced much worse even after two months of travelling around the world searching for magic.

"Next up, I talk about this semester's upcoming Magic Festival, where students show off their skills in an event open and free to the public…"

 _…Meanwhile, on a rural highway between two towns…_

Frisk listened attentively to the radio inside of the car while Papyrus drove them home from tutoring. Papyrus had always admired Frisk's ability to solve puzzles and provide situational insight, so it perplexed him why Frisk was doing so bad in math and writing that they needed tutoring. But after each tutoring session, Evening Under the Mountain started broadcasting while they were heading home.

Frisk and Papyrus first heard about the show from Alphys when she began working at the College. She got tired of her friends asking constantly about her work (especially her fiancé, Undyne), so she referred to the program where I talked about everything that happened in the College. Everyone was particularly curious about the Underground Student Society, they didn't think anybody would want to go back down there. "I guess it's a nice place for all the students to get away from those annoying administrators and professors, especially Professor Alphys." Mettaton had said jokingly.

 _…Back in the radio studio…_

I invited Arcos onto the radio show with me to talk about the upcoming Festival that was held on the campus grounds. The College administration let him lead and organize a large portion of the event because he was in his last semester, he was the top student in his class, and he had taken part in eleven other Festivals before this one.

"Ohh! Are we going to see the mirror-magic showcase performed by Flynn and Willow?" I was impressed last semester by the mage duo that performed advanced, choreographed illusion magic, making corporeal replications of themselves through spectral mirrors.

"Boy, you can bet on your fine white head of hair that they will perform in this Festival, but see, you've only been at this College for one semester so far, they perform something different each time."

"And do you know what that will be?"

"I sure do, but I ain't tellin' no one til' you see it at the Festival"

"Well I'm sure everyone is excited for their performance, but I have one more question, what will you perform for the upcoming Festival? I know agro-magic is your specialty, so are you going to grow another field of corn in half a minute?"

"I've been _growing_ a good idea for my performance, but you know I ain't tellin' you on the radio."

"Yeah I know" I said grudgingly. Essentially every question I asked him about the Festival was shot down with a refusal to answer until after the Festival. I was glad to end the interview early, and I was eager to begin the call-in period. "Now Arcos has given me permission to do something special for the festival. I would like one of my listeners to have the opportunity to perform as a guest. Arcos has opened a spot for one performer outside of the college to show his or her magic, and I am opening up calls for the rest of the hour to talk to listeners who are interested and ask what they can perform."

 _…Back on the highway…_

Frisk pulled out their cell phone immediately.

Surprised, Papyrus suddenly looked at Frisk. "FRISK, ARE YOU CALLING IN? YOU DON'T KNOW ANY MAGIC, BUT TELL THE RADIO HUMAN THAT YOU CAN SHOWCASE YOUR DETERMINATION!"

While Frisk was dialing in, another person had already called the underground station.

 _"Hello caller, what is your name, and what do you plan on showing at the Festival?"_ Tessero asked on the radio. Apparently, this caller was in the middle of happy hour. His response was loud and slurred.

" _My name is Kase, and you can give me your biggest swimming pool; I will turn all of the water into beer for you damn students to swim and drink in."_ The comment was a hit with Arcos, who started cracking up while slapping his knee. This was clearly not something to be taken seriously. Even if Kase could do what he said, a basic transmutation spell applied to a swimming pool wasn't show worthy for the Festival and the College was strict about public intoxication, but the idea sounded brilliantly fun.

 _"Al'right Kase, as much as I love your thinkin', we're gonna have to ask another caller"_ Arcos stated. We picked up another call and waited for it to come through.

" _Hello caller, state your name and what you want to show at the festival."_

"Hello, my name is Frisk."

… _Back inside the studio…_

That was all the child said before going silent again. Arcos and I looked at each other with our eyes widened. Was that the Frisk who broke the Barrier? They were loved and hated in the towns surrounding Mt. Ebott, and they were famous throughout the College for freeing both Monsters and their magic. Frisk was a silent and shy preteen who fell through the mountain, opened the underground Barrier, and somehow became the delegated ambassador between monsters and humans. News of them and their new family had spread all throughout the media.

"Are you the Frisk who broke the Barrier?"

" _Yes"_ the voice said through the call line.

"Okay" I drew out the word. "Do you know any magic?" I figured not, knowing their age.

" _No, but my mom does."_

"And who would that be?"

 _"Toriel"_

Arcos and I practically lost our minds with excitement. The Dreemurr family was an ancient monster clan that predated the great war between humans and monsters. They had established dominance among the other monster families by the time they were locked underground, and according to the texts that were brought up when the barrier opened, they had maintained dominance throughout the centuries. The family was known for their incredible aptitude with pyromancy and they were the most benevolent of the monster clans; these factors are what kept them in power. The family had played a huge role in both human and monster history.

Arcos and I didn't care if we were yelling on public radio at this point.

"TORIEL FREAKING DREEMURR!"

"ACTUAL MONSTER ROYALTY PERFORMING AT OUR FESTIVAL!"

"WE'RE GONNA HAVE SOME QUALITY GOAT MAGIC I TELL YOU WHAT!"

 _…Meanwhile, inside a small household in Ebott Town…_

Meanwhile, inside a small household, Sans and Toriel listened on a portable radio inside of their living room. The static yelling that emitted from the radio filled the silent room. Sans watched as Toriel glared at the radio.

"I guess Frisk _goat_ ed you into this magic festival, huh?"

She remained silent while she pulled out her cell phone. She wasn't going to have any of this, not in the current situation.

"I'm sorry to rain on their parade, but I will have to explain."

… _Back at the Radio Studio_

Another call suddenly came in the midst of our celebration. We didn't expect another caller since we made it clear by our reaction who the performer would be. "Uh, hello. Uh, state your name and what you would like to perform." I said, out of breath.

 _"This is Toriel"_ a feminine voice said.

Arcos and I nearly blew up again over the radio. "Okay, let's shut up so she can talk!" Arcos exclaimed. We regained our composure quickly.

"What would you like to say, Queen Toriel Dreemurr."

 _"You don't have to address me with that, just call me Toriel. Anyways, I am afraid that Frisk didn't talk to me before making the call. I'm quite busy, and under the current circumstances, I will not be able to participate."_

I felt my heart drop. Arcos and I both understood what she meant by what she said. But before I could say farewell, Arcos took up the call. "Hello sweetheart, this is Arcos, the leader of the Council down here and one of the main organizers of the festival. How was your day been so far?"

 _"Uh, fine, thank you."_

"Good. Now, I am aware of the circumstances, and I am sure that you are worried to perform at the campus because you think that humans will perceive your magical abilities as a threat."

After a long pause, _"Well, that was part of it."_

"Alright then, well let me tell you somethin' sweetheart. My family currently holds seats in the Central Department of Agriculture, and on top of that I am a sixth-year Praetor, which means I do a lot of things with Administration at the College and I see a lot of important people. I know almost everything about how humans feel about monsters and what we think about monsters even when it comes to our government."

 _"Okay. I'm sure our ambassador Frisk has that handled."_

"Yes, but based on my knowledge, I want to reassure you that your performance would not be seen as a threat by anybody. In fact, it would be quite the opposite. By performing at our festival, folks would see it as an open invitation to friendship between humans and monsters, especially within the realm of magic."

"Would mind taking the time to reconsider?" I asked Toriel.

I heard a sigh over the radio. " _I will consider this."_

I took the opportunity to ask Toriel one more thing before we ended Evening Under the Mountain. "Are you curious about what happened to the Underground?"

" _Not particularly. I know that after humans finished researching it they wanted to open a museum in memory of us who were trapped there. But then I heard about how the top students from the College of Gifted Mages took over and exploited the Underground's magic to power their student society and attract more members. But why do you ask?"_

The fact that she had said that with such kindness made her jab hurt all the worse. "Toriel, I want to invite you on a tour of the Underground while you consider performing at the Festival. We do maintain a museum as part of an agreement with the academic staff who let us run our society down here. We would have run the museum regardless of that agreement. I think you should see it and the rest of the underground too. We built an efficient transportation system, so a full tour would only take a few hours."

 _…Back inside the small house…_

Sans and Toriel looked at each other inside of their living room.

"I'm curious" Sans stated. "But it's your judgement _call_."

Toriel rolled her eyes "I wouldn't mind a visit." She said through the phone.

After Toriel hung up the phone, I sent her a text giving her all of the information about the tour. She sat down on her cushioned armchair and cracked open a history book on the Nuclear Wars. She was catching up on centuries worth of human history that monsters were separated from. She recalled how the dates mentioned in the book correlated with earthquakes felt in the Underground in the 195X's. Toriel read and waited for Frisk and Papyrus to get home. She had a vegetable pie baking in the oven and after dinner she had to start grading her student's essay's.

Sans walked into the kitchen to check on the pie. Usually he helped Toriel grade papers after dinner was finished; it was easy enough reading off of essay rubrics. Sans found that he was rather comfortable with a domestic lifestyle, and like many other monsters who went to the surface, he found his personal niche in a new career. Grillby and Sans opened up a restaurant when they reached the surface. The restaurant was called Sansby's, and the hotdogs and hamburgers were so good that it quickly became a chain with locations in multiple Monster Sectors and in the Underground. It was vastly popular in the Underground Student Society, and was a favorite hang-out spot alongside Ginger Bros. Café. Of course, no monster establishment was allowed on a Human Sector, and this deserves an explanation.

Entry #3: The Human-Monster Segregation Act of 201X

 _Just a preview of the third chapter with the title of the next entry. I would be happy to receive comments about any confusion or ways that I can improve my writing. Thank You!_


	3. Chapter 3

Entry #3: The Human-Monster Segregation Act of 201X

In the first few weeks after the Barrier was broken, monsters and humans lived happily and peacefully together. Humans who still feared and hated monsters fled into the margins of society, while the majority built friendships with monsters and invited them into their communities. This peace lasted shortly, however, as human extremists came out of the woodwork with acts of violence.

Anti-monster groups went into areas with high monster population density and opened up fire using tactical rifles. This occurred five times over the course a week before emergency militias were put in place. This week was called the Week of Ash in regards to the material that was shoveled out of the streets and public centers after shootings. Once the dust was settled (pun not intended), emergency legislation was put in place by the human government. The only ambassador that the monsters had, 12-year-old Frisk, was shut out of the legislative meetings because they were a minor and not part of a congressional family.

The bill that came out after the legislative vote was The Human-Monster Segregation Act of 201X. This bill was a nightmare for Frisk, who's goal was to establish friendship and unity between humans and monsters. Instead, the new law offered a regressive and divisive solution to human-on-monster violence.

As ambassador, Frisk had to sign the bill on behalf of all monster kind in order for the act to go into motion. If Frisk didn't sign the document, the situation would have been dramatically different. The emergency militias that were set up to protect monsters were only temporary. The bill drew upon congressional funding to set up permanent border security surrounding Monster Sectors. In turn, monsters agreed to maintain their own Sectors independently in order to avoid as much human contact as possible. If the bill wasn't signed the monsters would have had to create their own defensive strategy, and this would have been the reimplementation of the Royal Guard. Undyne, Sans and Papyrus were eager to reestablish the Guard, but everyone else was wary of this. It was clear that human government was already on edge about independent monster forces; Frisk received several congressional statements that said if monsters built up military forces, they would automatically be viewed as a threat to humankind. The creation of what Asgore creatively called the "New Royal Guard" would have brought monsters closer to warfare with humans. Monsters learned a brutal lesson about what war with humans meant. The alternative was to submit to human legislation.

It broke Frisk's heart to sign the law that they had no say in making. The signing was a media spectacle; I remember seeing it online through a live feed.

 _…Flashback to the signing…_

Frisk and their adoptive family walked into the Congressional Hall wearing a variety of formal clothes. Frisk wore a royal blue vest with navy dress pants, Undyne and Asgore wore tuxedos, Alphys wore a light blue floral dress, and Toriel wore her schoolteacher's uniform- a light royal purple sweater over a purple polka-dotted dress. Sans wore a neon blue bowtie with a black dress shirt and dress pants. Papyrus stuck out the most. He strutted across the hall in a running outfit with the word JOGBOY printed across his t-shirt, and in an attempt to follow some degree of formality, he added a red bowtie around the collar of his shirt. Mettaton's outfit looked similar to that of a congressman's; he sported a navy-blue blazer with grey khakis and polished dress shoes.

The sound of their footsteps rung across the concrete pillars and walls as they approached the podium containing the document. It would be the first-time Frisk and the monsters read the new law before Frisk would sign it and the public would hear it for the first time. Everyone except the skeleton brothers and Mettaton looked exhausted. None of them could get any sleep the night before, they were anticipating what the new law would be, thinking about the best and worst-case scenarios. Hundreds of cameras lining the steps on the opposite wall pointed towards Frisk and their family. Frisk stood on a stool so that their head was above the podium, and they saw the document of the first time. All of the worry that Frisk felt in the pit of their stomach immediately turned into burning dread as Frisk read the title of the document out loud. Toriel saw the title as Frisk spoke, and she could read Frisk's body language. She placed a comforting paw on Frisk's shoulder, and Sans followed along, placing a hand on Frisk's other shoulder. Undyne lifted Alphys onto her shoulder so that she could read the paper, and the monsters braced themselves to look at and listen to what the new law contained.

The cameras focused in on Frisk as they read through the document, occasionally zooming in on the faces of the monsters who stood next to Frisk, attempting to catch every sign of emotion that the group displayed. It was hard enough for the monsters to see what would become of their race, but it was more difficult to watch their best friend and only child break down in front of them. Cameras zoomed into Frisk's face as Frisk wiped away tears. I found the camera attention pathetic, media outlets were making a display out of their pain. When Frisk finished reading the bill they looked at the last page which contained the plethora of Congressional signatures. At the bottom corner of the page was the last blank line, reserved for Frisk's signature. At the top of the polished podium sat a shining brass fountain pen within a penholder. Frisk was left with two decisions. Sign the document and make it an official law, or don't.

Frisk turned around so that they could talk with their family.

"I know we agreed to approve of whatever solution the human government came up with… but…" Alphys sighed and shook her head nervously, "this REALLY doesn't look good."

"Child, it is important that you sign this. This protects both humans and monsters for the time being, and it buys us time for our kind to make peace with those who attacked us." Toriel hated the law with every fiber of her being. It brought relations between humans and monsters backwards. But how she personally felt didn't matter to her, she had other things on her mind at that time. Toriel ran a school that taught both monsters and humans, and she put the lives of her students in front of her. The thought of an armed, violent group walking into her school and opening fire before she could do anything terrified her. Of course, monsters could have created a new Royal Guard which would have protected her students if Frisk refused to sign. But that would have put monsters on very thin ice with humans.

"Don't sign it" Sans said blatantly.

"No, Sans think about…"

"No. Do not sign this." Sans repeated. "We didn't break through the barrier just to be forced into isolation again."

"We don't need their protection," Undyne said. "Let's walk out of here. I dare humans to _try_ attacking us again," Undyne made a light chuckle as she imagined impaling human attackers with her magic.

"I agree with Undyne" Asgore said confidently. "We don't need to take this Frisk. Monsters can protect themselves, and if that makes us a threat, so be it." Although the distinction of Royal authority became ambiguous when monsters reached the surface, Asgore still felt responsible for the monster race. "I still believe we can make peace with humanity without division."

Mettaton spoke last. "We all have our own views about this law, but the choice is up to you in the end. We stand behind every choice you make because so far, your choices have created the best reality for monsters. You wouldn't be our ambassador otherwise."

Frisk turned around and faced the cameras again, making an announcement. "If humans want to defend monsters, that's fine. It would be better without segregation" Frisk took a quick glance at the monsters behind them. "Humans got along well with monsters when the barrier first opened, but the actions of a few have divided us. Now the government has told monsters that they can't defend themselves. We can take this alternative though. We will work through this division, and still show love towards one another. We will lay down our weapons, and let humans have their control. Humans have showed their hatred; now monsters will show their mercy." Frisk grabbed the pen at the top of the podium.

Under the bill, boundary lines were drawn around areas of high monster population density. The areas with high monster populations were called Monster Sectors, and the areas surrounding monster sectors were called Human Sectors. Once the first boundaries were drawn, the remaining members of each race were forced to move out of their opposing Sector. When the population migration period was completed, members of the opposite race could only visit other Sectors if there was written permission from someone within the other Sector. Additionally, the bill ruled that "the amount of property each Sector received would be proportional to its localized population." The statement was annoyingly vague, but not by legislative standards, and this allowed the governors of local provinces to dole out Monster Sectors that were vastly smaller than Human Sectors. The justification for what eventually became known as 'monster packing' was deemed 'localized proportionality'. This was, in reality, pseudo-statistical bullshit made up by monster-phobic provincial leaders to force monsters into overcrowded rural and city slums. The reasoning behind this was that in every city, the population of humans always outnumbered that of monsters. The total human population was much higher than that of monsters, and monsters had spread evenly throughout the cities and provincial lands surrounding Mt. Ebott when the barrier was opened; some even decided to migrate internationally. Unfortunately, the bill didn't detail exactly how ratios of population affected the distribution of land, so leaders took the liberty of cramming monsters into small Sectors within under-developed industrial and rural areas surrounding human cities.

The media attention that Frisk received during the signing of the Segregation Act was large. But it was nothing like the media circus that surrounded the custody battle between Toriel and Frisk's orphanage.

 _...Flash forward; frisk coming home_

The doorbell woke Toriel up from her slumber. She realized she fell asleep reading _Modern Magic: A History on Quantum Mechanical Manipulation._ She hoped Sans didn't burn the pie while she was asleep.

Toriel walked to the door to let Frisk and Papyrus inside. Toriel kneeled and gave Frisk a hug. As was custom, she asked Frisk how tutoring went.

"Okay," said Frisk. Same response as always. When the Segregation Act went into motion all of the schools were forced to segregate students, and Frisk was moved to a school inside of a Human Sector.

Toriel knew that the change was hard for Frisk. They excelled with all of their subjects and they made many friends with monsters. Most notably was a schoolmate named Monster Kid. After the move, Frisk had some of the human friends that were with them at Toriel's school, but this didn't make the segregation any easier. Toriel was sure that the change was part of why Frisk had started failing their classes at the new school.

"I SMELL FOOD, WHAT DID YOU MAKE TODAY?" Papyrus asked.

"Vegetable pie."

"THAT'S NOT SNAIL OR BUTTERSCOTCH! WHERE DID YOU LEARN TO PUT VEGETABLES INSIDE OF PIE?"

"I bought some cookbooks this week. Vegetable pies are only a _slice_ of the pie recipes that I can make." Toriel said with a wink.

Sans came from the kitchen laughing. "Good one Toriel. Pie's ready, I turned off the oven." San's looked over to Frisk. "Hey kiddo".

"Papyrus, why don't you help make the table while I get dinner ready." Toriel looked at Sans and they exchanged a nod.

"Hey, come here kid." Frisk followed Sans over to the couch while Papyrus and Toriel set up dinner. "you really think this whole magic festival thing is gonna work?"

"It will be some of the first public contact that humans and monsters have made in months. I think sharing magic will help bring us back together" Frisk responded.

"I hope so. Toriel is already taking time off to visit the underground. If she performs at this thing she's just gonna add more work to her busy teaching schedule." Sans added.

"I know that." Frisk agreed.

Frisk Found it touching how considerate Sans was being of Toriel. Sans and Toriel were only roommates. With the school and the custody battles in Human court, Toriel only had so much time to care for Frisk, so Sans agreed to move in and lend a hand. After things settled down, Sans never saw a reason to move back out. It would have been too much work for San's liking to find another place to stay. Toriel was fine with this as long as he occasionally lent his help, provided plenty of puns, and didn't leave his socks around the house.

"Well, this thing is in a few weeks, so Toriel needs to brush up on her flamey spells to show the Humans at the college. This means we need to pick up the slack while she practices."

"I want to help mom out more, but she never lets me do anything. She worries about me having stress at the new school and stuff and wants me to relax all the time." Frisk didn't mention the court battles and legislative conflicts that they were thrown into. Of course Frisk needed time to relax, but they didn't make things easier for themselves when they volunteered Toriel on my show.

"I can convince her to let us wash dishes together kiddo. I can even show you how to be lazy after words, if there's one thing I'm good at, it's that."

"Dinner's Ready." Toriel called out. It was time to eat, and Frisk had just thought about a good topic to bring up at the table.


End file.
